Would Like To Start A Cold Water Set Up...

[PaulEbs]

Hello everyone in the coldwater section..

I am basically wanting to set up a 10 UK gallon tank for a small fancy goldfish.

The ideal set up I want to use is sand at the bottom, a large piece of bogwood, and a few amazon swords.

i spose what I'm trying to find out is.. is this a suitable set up for a fancy?

any advice, opinions, or criticism welcome!

 

[CoolWater]

Afraid not.

You can only keep one fancy in a ten gallon (max).
Get a 25/30 gallon, and you can keep 4 i recon.

While they will probably eat amazon swords (if i am not mistaken).
Use java fern instead.

Sand is fine

 

[PaulEbs]

cheers, but I'm only after the one fancy... I have a 30 gallon to put him in come october [moving house] but while he is small, a 10 gallon will have 2 do!

Apparently kids play sand is usable? will i need to treat it?

 

[Judmacaroni]

I agree sand is fine I have sand in my coldwater tank.

They will probably eat the amazon swords I found the only plant that mines didnt destroy was onion bulbs which grow like long ribbons. I dont think they are actual onion bulbs but that was the label in the lfs.

I would say from experience that whatever size tank you think you want times by 2 and get that if you can unless you are much more disciplined that us!

we started a little over a year ago with one deformed stargazer goldfish we felt sorry for and now have 4 tanks with the smallest being a 100l and the biggest a 300l! and a 450l and a pond on the way!

Dont disregard plastic plants as you can really get some nice real looking ones most of the ones we have in our tanks are fake.

good luck and post pics once your set up!

 

[debiasir]

10 will be ok for a smaller fancy but try and move him withing 6 months. my fancy looked huge in a 15.

personally i would go with gravel. goldfish love to route around the bottom for food and i just dont like the thought of them eating sand. i think i am paranoid though.

boog wood is great and mine loves swimming and hiding behind it.

my 6 inch fancy eat 4 amazon plants in asmany days. could try vallis, mine did not touch the stuff lol

ill post a pic when my slr camera comes down, my tank is all fake plants except one and i think it looks ok

 

[PaulEbs]

Hey, thanks for the advice..

I have had tropical fish for many years now, [recently bought myself a 40gallon]. But the missus has always had a thing for fancy goldfish, and calling them George.

So as it's her birthday next tuesday... I'll have to start cycling george's tank now...

As quite a lot of other people do on here, I'll 'step by step' it on here... as so you guys can help me as i go?

So here's my first step.. the fishless cycle..

Oh.. and another question... I have a heater in there, as English weather and our heating is unpredictable.. what is the perfect temperature for fancies?

Cheers.

 

[PaulEbs]

Okay...

had a look for sand today..
found 'kid's playing sand', but was less 'yellow' than i was expecting. So have maybe decided to go against the sand idea, plus the fact goldfish like to dig around as debiasir so rightly said.

But to keep with the yellow bottom, as I think this will look fantastic with bog wood and greenery, I'm going to try and get hold of some small yellow gravel.

has anyone else tried to use play sand? does it actually go a nice yellow when in the tank?

Cheers.

 

[debiasir]

when i bought what i believed to be play sound it was bright white lol and stayed it in the tank. so i changed it back to beige coloured gravel

 

[denis coghlan]

Oh.. and another question... I have a heater in there, as English weather and our heating is unpredictable.. what is the perfect temperature for fancies?

Cheers.

IMO there is no need for a heater. I have three fancy gold fish in a 30g and they are well able to deal with changes in temperature. In the winter my house is like a block of ice and in the summer it retains the heat so the temp is always up and down. Heating the tank will increase the fishes metabolis and the amount of waste that they produce. The only reason I would keep a heater in the tank would be too take the chill of the water if you wanted to grow some semi-tropical plants.

 

[PaulEbs]

cheers 4 the info..

I'm not sure what plants I'm going to use, as I've been told goldfish love to eat many varieties!

i want something that's really lusciously green, that the fancy won't nibble, and is easy to grow....

any suggestions??

oh, and I've decided against bogwood (soo expensive around these parts!) and I'm going to use Rocks instead, might not look as tranquil, but still I think it looks funky?...

Cheers.

 

[PaulEbs]

Also...

i think the lucky fish is going to be a calico moor...

does anyone have any experience with these fancies? Any tips that you could give me would be top notch, thanks!

 

[CoolWater]

Looks great.

Go with Java Fern and Java Moss.
They are lush green in colour, and the gold fish wont eat them.
Also both plants need to be attached to rocks (or ornaments). So your tank is ideal as it has them big rocks.
They will give your tank a much more natural look

 

[demonmagus]

personally i would go with gravel. goldfish love to route around the bottom for food and i just dont like the thought of them eating sand. i think i am paranoid though.

isn't it better to have sand then?

I remember there was a post about a goldfish which had got gravel stuck in its mouth... I think it died

This is rare though so it don't matter

 

[PaulEbs]

Looks great.

Go with Java Fern and Java Moss.
They are lush green in colour, and the gold fish wont eat them.
Also both plants need to be attached to rocks (or ornaments). So your tank is ideal as it has them big rocks.
They will give your tank a much more natural look

Groovy... I've got some java moss growing in another tank, so I'll just use some of that...

Also, I saw these grassy balls at my LFS, I'm not sure what they're called, but they are round, very green and looks a lot like mini grass... any ideas? And would they be suitable?

Thank u.

 

[PaulEbs]

Right, I've tied down some moss to the two front slates.. hopefully it'll pick up and attatch itself soon..

Although my webcam's a bit ####ty.. so here's a closer look..

Does it grow just as well in coldwater? Will it need any supplements?

Cheers.